We the People…The Citizen and the Constitution - COLUMN

Saturday, May 24, 2014 11:07 PM

The
AP Government students of Van Wert High School will be submitting a
weekly editorial to inform the public on a variety of issues. They have
been encouraged to research, take a position, and defend their reasoning
for having such thoughts. The purpose of these editorials is to provide
awareness and knowledge for the community and to be thought provoking.
The views expressed in these editorials do not represent Van Wert High
School, and are written solely by the student author.

In
December, Congress renewed a ban in the department of gun safety. The
Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988 was passed to continue the prohibition
of creating plastic guns. It has been extended for another 10 years to
help protect people. This act was created to make the manufacturing,
import, selling, shipping, delivering, possession, transfer, or
reception of a firearm not detectable by a walk-through metal detector
illegal. This is due to the frequent occurrence of mass shootings in the
country and trying to prevent them. Shootings such as Sandy Hook
Elementary in December of 2012, Aurora, Colorado in July of 2012, and
other shootings. I agree that this ban needed to be renewed to help
prevent these shootings, but this act did not stop the previously
mentioned shootings from occurring. A Bushmaster M4 Type Carbine and a
Glock 20SF were used in the Sandy Hook shooting which are metal guns and
wouldn’t be affected by this act.

Although the ban didn’t help
the previously mentioned shootings, it can prevent future ones. This is
the ultimate goal since the past cannot be changed but the future can
be. Congress is trying to keep metal detectors effective when it comes
to finding firearms on people. While this prohibition placed on firearms
does help to keep people safer and helps to keep the Second Amendment
guaranteed to the people, it doesn’t prevent the majority of shootings
that could occur with metal guns.

This act is an attempt from
Congress to make the country and the people of the country safer inside.
Fully automatic firearms are already illegal as well as background
checks being mandatory for anyone purchasing a gun. The next possible
step could be to have periodic checks on gun purchasers and have a
deeper background check to make sure the purchaser can handle a firearm.